Below you will find a reworked version of the readings used in my congregation’s last Christmas Eve Service. Each year, I attempt intertwine the message of the gospel with the Christmas narrative, exploring how the gospel would have shaped the worldview of those watching the birth of Christ unfold in real time. The set of four short readings below explores the Christmas story from the perspective of the wisemen. The readings and the Scriptures in the title sections can be read on Christmas Eve or on Christmas morning before you dive into the goodies surrounding your tree. Or you could just read it now or anytime (for that matter) you are in need of some gospel cheer!
Merry Christmas!
Magi, Darkness, and a Star: Isaiah 9:2
Today, the presence of the wisemen, or the magi, in our nativity scenes proves to be rather unremarkable. We just stick them next to the shepherds and all the angels. But their role in that first Christmas was anything but ordinary.
You see, the Magi were interlopers, foreigners. To use the Jewish word, they were “Gentiles.” They had no claim upon the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob or upon the city of David. If anything, the wisemen most likely hailed from the ruins of the Babylonian and Persian empires. For generations, these people groups had made a name for themselves in-part through oppressing the nation of Israel. Consequently, God had never spoken through the Babylonian or the Persian prophets. The Magi’s ancestors were unquestionably the enemies of God. And yet, here they are in the middle of the Christmas story because they had seen a great light…the star of Christmas.
Though scholars have speculated a good deal about how the Magi found the Star of Bethlehem, the Bible gives us few direct hints about the process. We do not know if the star was a comet or if it was a supernatural orb that only the Magi could see. We do not know if the Magi came to Jerusalem because they had read Daniel’s prophetic calendar or one of Isaiah’s old scrolls. We do not know. We only know the God’s glorious light had penetrated the darkness of their hearts. Faith had sprung forth where once there had only been darkness.
The idea of God creating light from nothing, and darkness boggles our minds. Every time we create something, we always do so from something else. We build Lego cars out of Legos, and we build homes out of wood, bricks, and vinal siding. With us, everything comes from something. But this is not true of our God. In Genesis 1:1-4, the very first verses of the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible, we read these words:
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.
Where there was once nothing but darkness, now there was light, a pure and good light that reflected the glorious character of God! As John the disciple whom Jesus loved noted, “God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).” At its inception, the universe knew only this glorious light. All was good. Even Adam and Eve, our first ancestors, reflected God’s perfection. But the world did not stay good. The darkness of sin would swallow up the whole human race. Floods and judgements would come. And nations like the nation of Babylon would come and go without ever catching a direct glimpse of God’s light. The world of the wiseman was a dark world. But it would not stay that way. The light had come again. The Star a Bethlehem had appeared to them. Salvation had come!
Magi, a Mad King, & a Missing Baby: Matthew 2:1-4
The people of Jerusalem viewed the wisemen with a good deal of suspicion. Yes, Herod goes through all the protocols associated with hosting foreign dignitaries and welcomes them into the king’s house. But no one in Herod’s house is comfortable with them.
As we have already noted, they are outsiders, hailing from people groups that used to terrorize the Jews. But even more troubling than their presence is their message. They have come to see, “He who was born king of the Jews.” This proves to be a geopolitical problem for Herod. Though he calls himself the King of the Jews, Herod is not a Jew. Moreover, he is rather old having spent his youth hanging out with Cleopatra and Mark Antony. No one would assume that King Herod was the object of the Magi’s search.
But their message is not just a challenge to the king’s political relevance. It is a challenge to the very idea of human independence…human self-government…to the right to live and let live.
The term “King of the Jews” was a religious claim. In other words, the wisemen were looking for the Messiah, God in human flesh. A few years later during his trial in Matthew 26, Jesus would boldly declare himself to be the “Christ the son of God.” The non-Jews who heard this claim transposed Jesus’s words into a sign that read, “King of the Jews (Matt 27:37).” In other words, to search for the king of the Jews was to search for the Messiah, for the ruler of the universe who demands our perfect obedience…our full allegiance.
We know Herod understood the nature of the wisemen’s claim for he immediately consulted not with the politicians of his day but with the religious leaders. But as Matthew 2:16-18 would make clear, Herod’s quest was not one of worship but of rebellion. He wanted to kill Jesus. Herod was at war with God.
But such animosity did not begin with Herod. Nor was it unique to him. The rebellion originated back in Genesis 3, that first book of the Bible. Following the advice of a snake, our first parents, Adam and Eve, sought to take a run at being God through the process of eating some forbidden fruit. But instead of conquering God, they lost their natural goodness and thereby corrupted human nature. They found themselves exiled from all that was good, holy, and pure. And when God came to check on them after that first sin, they hid. God was no longer a comfort. Darkness began to reign.
Being the children of Adam and Eve, we too are sinners cut off from the glorious light of God. As Jesus noted in Matthew 15:19, the evil that infects our lives comes from within. We do bad things because we are bad. Jesus says, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.” We have all lied once or twice to get out of a sticky situation or said something unkind that we regret. Though we try to be good, we must confess that we are not good. We too deserve to die for our sins. God is light and we are darkness.
But as the wisemen well knew, the light had come into the world not to condemn the world but to save it: to give life and light to men. You see the star was guiding the Magi not to Jerusalem but to Bethlehem!
A City, A Messiah, and a Shepherd: Matthew 2:5-11
A city is much more than a dot on a map. It represents a culture, an ethos, a way of life. There is a great difference between being from New York City as opposed to Dallas. The same proves true of the towns in the gospel of Matthew. Jesus presence of the star over Bethlehem unveils more than Jesus’s birthplace. It reveals that he is the Messiah worthy of our worship.
In one sense, anyone can claim to be God. No one has an existential crisis when their weird uncle Al says he’s god, because infinite beings do not live in grandma’s basement. He also claims to be a piece of toast, but we don’t butter him either. Simply saying something does not make it true.
It is one thing to claim to be God, and another thing to empirically prove it. The biblical account of Jesus’s birth does just that. In Micah 5:2, God made the following promise: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathat, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be the ruler of Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient of days.” In other words, Jesus’s birth was not accident but the very fulfillment of God’s Word. And this was not the first time Jesus had fulfilled the words of God as a baby. Back in Matthew 1:22, the gospel writer informs us that the Mary conceived Jesus while a virgin fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 7:13-14 which says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel.” While anyone can claim to be divine, the son of God, only the one born of a virgin and born in the town of Bethlehem can legitimately make sense of the historical witness of Scripture. If Jesus where any where else, he would not be the Messiah.
In addition to revealing his divine nature, the city also reveals Jesus’s character. Instead of standing aloof from his people and terrorizing others as Herod and countless other men and women have done, Jesus comes to shepherd his people. Though he could have called down angels to crush his opponents, he willingly dies for them. As Jesus told his disciples, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (Jh. 10:11).” He atones for our sins on the cross and then rises again so that all who repent and believe can have eternal life with him. The wisemen rightly broke forth into joy and worshiped Jesus when they entered his house. As evidenced by their gifts, the Magi realized that Jesus is both their God and their savior, the very antidote to the darkness of death that has enveloped us all. And not only does Jesus shepherd them and us to heaven, he also guides us through this life, guaranteeing our spiritual growth and righteousness. Even when we go through times of darkness, struggle, and sorrow, Jesus stays close by our side. As the great king David who also hailed from Bethlehem noted, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Ps 23:1).”
In other words, the star came to rest upon the tiny town of Bethlehem because baby Jesus was both fully man and fully God, the shepherd king who saves us from our sins!
Gifts, Worship & the Meaning of Christmas: Matthew 2:12
The story of the wisemen found in Matthew 2 is no sentimental tale. It does not belong on the fiction shelf but rather in the philosophy section. It makes an existential claim upon our life. It declares that the baby that the wisemen found was the Son of God and that he is worthy of our worship. And if Jesus truly is more than the small figurine in the center of our manger scene, then we must do something with the story of the Magi. We must either worship Jesus like the Magi did, or go to war with Jesus like King Herod did, or attempt to ignore Jesus like the religious whom Herod consulted leaders did.
I plead with you to avoid the latter two options. War in all contexts proves to be a ghastly thing. More importantly, It will end with our defeat and eternal judgement. Indifference also proves to be an equally bad choice. Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me (Matt 12:30).” Though we are content to ignore God, Jesus will not ignore us. His righteous judgement will find you out. But it does not have to.
If you will follow the Magi to Bethlehem and worship the baby in the manger, you too can experience the glorious light that is the life of men. If you will confess your sins and lay down your idols at the feet of Jesus, you too will have every reason to rejoice with exceedingly great joy this Christmas for Jesus’s blood will wash your sins clean. He will go from being your judge to being your good shepherd. As the apostle John once said, Jesus came so that we, “may have life and have it abundantly.” May we too follow the wisemen to Bethlehem this Christmas!
Tis the season of Christmas trees, little snow men, and lots of controversy. As with many holidays, Christmas brings with it a sleigh full of traditions. And every December, we Christians must spend some time unpacking them all. We must all decide whether or not an elf can sit on our shelf, whether or not a fat man can slide down our chimney, and whether or not we will stick a tree in our living room. We determine for our family which traditions bring Christ glory and which ones are really nothing more than spiritual coal. So how do we do this? How do we figure whether or not Jesus likes our traditions?
I know this may sound simple, but it is worth repeating. As much as Christmas is designed to be a season of light, it can include many dark and disturbing traditions. Once while working at a large bookstore, I observed a woman buying a playboy calendar for her husband. As she shopped, I heard her tell her friends that she and the other ladies in her family frequently bought playboy merchandise for their significant others each Christmas. Sadly traditions like this are far too common during the holidays. As believers, we must forsake all sinful things. Paul explicitly tells us that in I Corinthians 10:14 that we are to “flee from idolatry.” We are to flee from things that will keep us from Christ. We are to flee from sexually immorality, drunkenness, and greed. Any tradition that promotes idolatry, the worship or celebration of anything other than God, must be avoided. We cannot participate in them. If a tradition leads to or promotes sin, unplug you and your family from it.
Regardless of where we fall on traditions, our heart should always be to seek the good of our neighbors. We should always seek peace and unity when tackling the grey issues of Santa Clause, the Grinch, and the Charlie Brown Christmas special. We can both embrace and reject these traditions without sinning. But if our placement of a little red elf or the use of a tree is going to cause division in our churches, we can give them up. And if our neighbor sees nothing wrong with a tradition and is not sinning by singing Frosty the Snow Man, we can stuff our criticism back in the bag. We can simply sing along. But if someone says they teach their kids about Santa Clause to manipulate the behavior, we can address it in love. But at the end of the day, we do should not use traditions to divide ourselves from our brothers and sisters in Christ. They should bring us together. If they do not, we very well may have knowledge and no love. We may very well criticize others and tell them how right we are and all the while miss the very crux of the gospel as seen in the Christmas story. As Paul says in Romans 8:2, “If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.” If we think we have a monopoly on how to best celebrate Christmas, we have missed the fact Christ came to save and redeem us from our sin. Jesus did not come to celebrate our self-righteousness. Embrace your traditions with humility.
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